Coming to an Understanding
by zippy zany
Summary: What if Eliot was more injured then he let on in the carnival job? Has the whole team but it is mainly Nate and Eliot. Spoilers for the carnival - obliviously.


_Happens right after the carnival job so spoilers for that and no I do not own Leverage. I do however wrote this story therefore all the spelling errors and grammar mistakes are mine. _

Eliot wasn't lying when he said he had hired a nurse. He had a vague idea who the person that came through the doors was. They ususlly always looked the same, beautiful and professional. He recognized her from her outfit and that he had seen her once before, he knew that if Nate or Sophie were more observant instead of letting down their guard after the job they would have picked up on her identity or rather where she worked.

He was able to keep up the charade of walking out on his own power and going up the stairs before his knees buckled and he would have pitched forward towards the ground if she wasn't holding on to him.

"Take it easy," she said, she was strong and a trained nurse so she held him up with ease and soon she was joined by her colleague and Eliot felt strong arms around him. His first reaction was to fight them off but she reassured him once again.

"It's alright, this is Jake and we got you," she reassured him. Eliot had known that something was wrong the moment he had opened his eyes at the carnival and instead of everything coming into focus he had a hard time just getting off the ground. He had gotten through the job on pure adrenalin and on the fact that he was too stubborn to stay down. Besides he would die first than let a kid get hurt because he had been distracted by Parker and Hardison to do his job.

He had known he needed professional stitches on his right hand rather than the ones that he could do with his left hand. Some of the deeper cuts were just on the knuckle joints and would need moveable stitches. He also knew that he was in need of a MRI scan. He had pulled up his hood up so his team would not see the fact the left side of his face would soon be turning a dark shade of purple. And if the throbbing in his skull was an indication that he had the mother of all concussions he didn't know what else was.

He felt like he would throw up and held back the urge just like he had done for the last few hours, he could hold out more. He felt himself moved towards what he knew was an unidentifiable van that was also a full ambulance for the clinic he had called. He closed his eyes so the spinning would at least be easier to deal with.

He had no idea how he had gotten in the van as one moment he was walking towards it and the next he was laying down in the stretcher they had. Uh oh losing time was never a good thing. The beautiful blond that he still had no name for was working on attaching an IV line and the guy was securing him down. The moment he realised that he was laying down the spinning went out of control and he could not hold back anymore. He struggled to get up and to the side and was helped up and over as the two professionals realised what was happening. A bucket of some sort was presented to him and he emptied his stomach into it. He lied back with a groan and closed his eyes and felt a smoothing towel be passed over his brow and a moment later he knew no more.

XXXXXX

The day after a job was come in when you want to in the morning for the team. The first to show up these days was usually Sophie as she was prone to stay the night. The next to show up would be Hardison and he would straight away head for his computer setting up and starting to work on post job stuff. No one knew how or when Parker showed up, if she did not walk in with someone she would just appear in the kitchen pouring herself a bowl of cereal. Surprisingly the last to show up but on the dot 9 o'clock would be Eliot with his coffee from the corner coffee shop.

When he was late none minded it for the moment and settled down around the table to begin the debriefing. If all of them threw glances at the door every few moments to see where he was none mentioned it.

Nate was able to last until 9:18 when he said, "Hardison call his cell," he ordered while making some notes into his file.

After a moment Hardison was on his computer when everyone turned to him he explained, "His cell phone is off and he is not answering at home. I am turning on his ear bud to locate him," he said and then they all heard the ping and looked up into the six big screens to see where the ear bud was. Parker got up and went into the inner regions of the apartment/office only to return with two ear buds.

"Uh oh, this can't be good," was Sophie's reaction.

"Ok," said Nate trying to keep calm, "he had a rough day yesterday and is probably just sleeping of the after effects." He wasn't sure if he was trying to convince himself or the team.

"But he could be passed out in his apartment," suggested Parker in a very small and quiet voice.

"He didn't go home alone," said Sophie.

Nate thought for a moment of what to do. If something had happened to Eliot the lady he was with surely would have taken him to a hospital. Eliot might have been too out of it to give them a call. It was always better to be safe then sorry.

"Alright, Hardison do a sweep of the hospitals and see if anyone who was matching Eliot's aliases or description and injuries was admitted. Parker go by his place and see if he is there."

Sophie's 'don't you think you are over reacting?' comment was ignored by all as they set out to do as Nate said and Nate poured himself his first drink of the day.

An hour later Parker was back saying the alarm at Eliot's place hadn't been turned off since the day before meaning he never returned to his apartment. And Hardison hadn't been able to find any information.

"You know he could just be sleeping it off at her place," suggested Sophie. "He is a grown man. We don't have to worry about him."

"We'll give him until tomorrow to be seriously worried," she added however looking around the room she could see that the rest did not want to. Parker was chewing on a finger nail something she only did when she was worried. And Hardison was furiously typing away. And Nate looked like he was thinking too hard.

Nate knew he was missing something but what? He ran the job and night that followed over and over in his head. He had asked Eliot if he was alright and Eliot had said yes. Of course there were no words exchanged just a nod of his head to ask if he was alright after the fight and he trusted Eliot to tell him if he was not. He realized that just because he trusted Eliot to tell him did not mean that Eliot trusted him. This new insight did did not sit well in his gut - he needed another drink. No one made any suggestions when he moved over to pour himself a double shot of whatever bottle he was working on.

They settled into unease of an afternoon until about 4 o'clock in the afternoon when Nate couldn't take it anymore.

"Hardison I want to see the cameras from the front of the bar," he said, time was not needed they all knew what he meant.

It took a moment for Hardison to locate the file and play it back. They all watched as Eliot seeming to be in the arms of a beautiful blond made it up the stairs of the bar and watched in silence as his knees gave out and was helped by the blond who then was joined by a strong looking guy. Both of them helped Eliot of the current camera and in seconds Hardison had changed the camera and they watched as they helped Eliot into a similar looking van as Lucille.

"He's been kidnapped," whispered Parker, however Nate was working through the clues in his mind; the professional looking blond in the almost uniform dress, similar looking guy, unnoticeable van, Eliot mentioning that he hired a nurse and suddenly everything clicked into place.

"Celo-are Clinic," he said and when everyone turned to look at him he went on to explain, "it is a clinic that has branches all over the world. They are very private and hush hush and extremely expensive." He said and when everyone was looking at him he went on. "Hardison just look it up."

Within moments information was flashing on the screens in front of them and Sophie picked up the explanation. "They are one of the best medical care facilities in the world. You can't just be patient for the clinic, they are extremely selective of their clientele, they have a whole process before they accept you. I tried to get in years ago, they would not let me," she directed her comment to Nate. If she couldn't get in how on earth did Eliot?

"They always have had a branch here in Boston," added Nate ignoring the hurt Sophie, "mob bosses and what not,"

"What's this?" asked Hardison as he had gotten into patient records to see if he could locate Eliot but a bunch of numbers were running across the screen.

"You see," Nate said moving around the table like he usually did to explain things. "They never know who their patients are. They are always by number, their records are kept on file to that number and nothing is attached to it, not even a photo."

"Man," muttered Hardison as he was checking the locations of other Celo-are clinics around the world and their security, "some people are just too paranoid for their own sake." After all they all had offered to take Eliot to a hospital and what was wrong about the State Hospital just down the street? It wasn't like the guy needed anything more? But even as he thought the words his hearth squeezed in a painful way as Eliot almost collapsing to his knees in front of the bar flashed before his eyes. He pulled the video file up again onto the corner of his screen and watched as his brothers almost collapse once some. "Stubborn son of a …." he said not willing to finish the sentence.

"What are we going to do?" asked Parker in the same quiet uncharacteristic voice.

"Nothing," said Sophie getting up moving around so she was facing everyone. "If he wanted us to know he would have told us." She turned to Nate to plead her case. "He is in one of the best medical care facilities in the world," she repeated. "He is in the best hands possible and clearly he did not want us knowing. So we are going to respect his privacy." She finished and looked around the room, they all looked like they wanted to rush over there to check on their team mate.

She trusted Eliot to know if he needed help and be a judge on his own body but she relented a little after all she was just as worried like the rest of them, however knew that Eliot would not appreciate them showing up at the clinic. "If we don't hear from him by tomorrow morning, we'll go by there." she suggested.

After a moment of thought Nate was nodding his head and moving away. They all had an uneasy night and were back before eight in the morning. At 9:07 Nate ordered Hardison.

"Get me a photo of Eliot," he said when they were all looking at him. "Since I don't know his number I need to be able to tell the people at the clinic who I am looking for."

When Parker made a move to get up he said in a firm, "I will go alone."

"But…" she began.

"I will let you know how he is if I am allowed in and then you can come visit," he said his voice going a bit softer.

Nate got the photo of Hardison as he printed it and made it out of the apartment. He had no idea what he was going to tell the people at the clinic, he knew that they would not give away information on a patient to someone who didn't know their number and was not authorized to visit but he was going to try.

He arrived at the hospital and liked he guessed the clinic was even refusing to acknowledge that they were a clinic to begin with let alone admit they had Eliot.

After tying to con them with one of his stories he felt his cell vibrate he excused himself and walked away to see what Hardison wanted.

Hardison began talking without even a greeting, "I hacked into their patient database and you are right there are no names or photos attached to the files however if you dig far enough and I mean jump through hops and stuff you come across a group of names that should be called if something happens to a patient and they need to ... you know... arrange funeral details," there he stopped to take a breath and then went on.

"In the database I came across your name, it is attached to one file and it looks extensive enough to be Eliot's." He stopped, if it was Eliot's file then the number of times he had been at the clinic was enormous, some of the dates even correlated with some of their jobs and Hardison didn't want to think about the number of times Eliot had required x-rays just to check that nothing was broken. And the number of hairline fractures the man had received had gone on for pages.

Nate's "Hardison!" broke into his thought process "the number please."

Armed with the number he made his way back to the receptionist of the so called spa and resort.

"732 665 35 65" he told the receptionist and this time saw her enter the number on her computer screen. She looked at him and told him to take a seat.

After a moment a pleasant looking man in civil clothes walked up to him. Nate knew from the way this guy held himself that he was a doctor.

XXXXXXX

Nate walked into Eliot's room, it had taken almost an hour of talking to convince the doctor just to give him information about Eliot and then after finding out how he was it was another hour and a half before they let him in. He stopped at the entrance for a moment. The room looked like a suite in an expensive hotel. It had an open sitting room with TV and entertainment center and as Nate further walked in he spied another bedroom to the side which no doubt was the room for the companion of the patient.

He made his way over to the main bedroom and stopped at the entrance to look around in shock. The bedroom was huge, it had a queen size bed that was a cross between a hospital bed and a normal bed. It wasn't high as a hospital bed but Nate could see that it could be raised. The head looked liked it could be elevated also. Across the bed was a huge flat screen with once again an entertainment center that would even make Hardison's standards. As Nate silently made his way over to the bed he spied the on suite bathroom that was in the room and Nate's mind made note of the bars in the bathroom strategically placed for holding and pulling.

The curtains in the room were drawn and left the room in a feeling of twilight, Nate knew that Eliot never liked to sleep in complete darkness. One of the windows was open letting in a light breeze and fresh air, something normal hospitals always seemed to forget – fresh air. As he got closer to the bed his nose picked up on the smell of jasmines and he spied them on the bedside table. Jasmines were peculiar, they only smelled for a few hours after blooming and they lost their smell shortly after and they only bloomed at night or early morning, for someone to place fresh jasmines on the bedside table meant that the hospital paid exquisite attention to even the smallest of details.

A part of Nate's mind couldn't help but think what would have happened if he did keep one of the Monet's he had found like the man on the bed had suggested when they had first gotten together. Even if Sam hadn't made it he would have not only known that he had tried his best but they would have had comfort. A snort escaped Nate as he made it to the side of the bed to sit down, the rich even died in style!

All his annoyance at Eliot for not telling them that he was considerably injured went out of his mind as he surveyed the man sleeping on the bed. He hadn't even stirred at Nate's coming, normally Eliot was a light sleeper, would wake up when someone was moving in the room. In the past three years on a few occasions when they had to share tight quarters Nate had been witness to their hitter sleeping. Although in reflection the times he had seen Eliot asleep could be counted on one hand, he always seemed to be last to get to bed usually reading late into the night and first to wake and going for a run. However the few times Nate had seen him sleep he looked calm and relaxed and Nate had noticed that rarely did he move while sleeping.

Nate made note of the details, that was his strength. All the sheets in the bed where wrinkled and in a mess indicating that the occupant had a restless night. One of the pillows on the bed was on the floor on the other side of the bed and the other was squeezed under Eliot and from its appearance it looked like it had been in many positions through the night.

Eliot was in a grey t-shirt as far as Nate could see and not in a hospital gown. The rest of him was covered by a light blanket that he was tangled up in. Nate held in the urge to untangle him. He did not look well; his whole complexion was pale and there were dark circles under his eyes. An IV line went into his uninjured hand, his other hand had been re-bandaged and the right side of his entire face was bruised. Nate had assumed that the fight had gone bad however for a bruise like that something they had not noticed had gone down in the carnival grounds.

How did one manage to get a hair line fracture to their skull? For a moment Nate just stared at Eliot. Did he not trust them enough to tell them he was injured? He remembered Sophie, Parker and then Hardison all offering to take him to the hospital at different points after the con. Maybe there were some things they needed to talk about - like what was his procedure when he was hurt? It was obvious that he came to the clinic to be checked out and they - the team - needed to know that. Eliot could have easily trusted them to take him here as easily as they would have taken him to a hospital.

At that moment the door opened and a nurse walked in. In her hand she had a jell bag of what Nate assumed was ice. She put the ice down on the bed side table that had a jug of water. She with professionalism managed to untangle Eliot from his blankets pulled the sheets that were under him straight. Nate stood up and gave her room while watching from the sidelines. She pulled the pillow free and managed to turn Eliot on to his back without waking him which assured Nate that Eliot was under the influence of heavy narcotics. She then took both of the pillows off the bed and replaced them with new ones that she pulled from the cupboard.

She lifted Eliot's head with gentle movements and placed a fresh pillow under his head. When she reached for the ice Nate moved forward.

"I can do that, if it's ok?" he asked the nurse giving her a smile and holding out his hand. The nurse gave him a look and then handed over the ice.

"Just hold it over the worst of the bruises it will help with the swelling. Not so much pressure as that would hurt." she said.

Nate once again sat on the edge of the bed. He carefully reached over and placed the jell on Eliot's face, he gave a slight groan but otherwise did not wake up. Nate sat there thinking about how he was going to handle this situation.

XXXXXXX

Consciousness returned slowly to Eliot. He could feel a breeze and smell jasmines. There was one place that was ordered to place jasmines by his bed because they reminded him of home. His mother used to place a batch of jasmines on his bed side table at night from the jasmine tree on the veranda of their house. Then his father would place a fresh batch in the morning before he went out to work on the farm so Eliot had woken up to the smell of jasmines his entire childhood.

Here he had them placed so he knew he was safe. The heaviness of his eyes unwilling to open and the fact that his mount felt like it had been filled with cotton meant they had given him a sedative and very likely morphine.

He finally managed to open his eyes and looked over at the water jug. It would be cool and have a slight sense of lemons in it. On days like this Eliot was glad he had known Damien Moure. He was the one seven years ago who had known that Eliot was hurt enough to need a doctor after a run in with the local police. He had made all the arrangements for the clinic and even footed the bill then and every other time Eliot needed the clinic because he was hurt working for him. Eliot had even noticed that Moure had on occasion had paid for a trip to the clinic after he had stopped working for him. It was his way of saying 'hi' to an old friend. The man might have been an egocentric son of bitch to work for however he had taken care of those in his employ. One of the reasons Eliot had stayed with him the longest. When you cared for absolutely nothing in the world someone who cared for you meant a great deal.

To reach the water he needed to get rid of the IV in his hand, he reached to pull it out when someone spoke almost making him jump in fright and surprise.

"I would leave that in if I were you. You are dehydrated and need it besides it is almost done, about another hour."

Slowly so not to wake the headache he knew that was waiting behind his eyes he turned to face the mastermind who was sitting in the lazyboy by the window. He had known they would find him especially when he noticed that he would not be getting out of the clinic the next morning. What he wasn't expecting was for them to find their in. No one should be allowed into the clinic. He paid these people six figures to be safe, he looked around at least it was just Nate. What he was thinking must have shown on his face or he had become predictable because Nate answered like he had spoken out loud.

"They were quiet protective of you, wouldn't even admit that they were a hospital until we gave them your number that is." he said in that arrogant way of his.

"How?" was the only thing he could croak out. Nate moved to his bed side and sat on the bed, he poured him a glass of water and handed it over. Eliot rose up to accept the water with his right hand when he found that his fingers hurt to bend he reached over with his left. He noticed that Nate had raised his eyebrows at the movements and he raised his in response.

Nate ignored the heavy discussion that was sure to follow to opt to answer his question first. "Hardison found your reference number," when Eliot froze in drinking the water he went on. "Their records are safe don't worry. You however have my name to be called…," he said for what he didn't need to mention.

"Dam it Hardison," said Eliot but without the heat it usually had.

"We need to talk," started Nate. Eliot just handed him the half empty glass and with his elbows he pulled himself a little higher on the bed laid back down and closed his eyes.

"Eliot," he said his tone holding a lot of emotions; annoyed, angry, concerned, troubled, frustrated, worried and the list went on. However Eliot made note that concerned seem to win out.

"What do you want me to say?" asked Eliot without even opening his eyes.

"How about you start by telling me what happened?"

Eliot just raised an eyebrow without opening his eyes. Nate decided to give him some pointers. "I had a chat with your doctor who briefed me on your condition," started Nate before continuing. "Your ribs are bruised which could be from the fight. Your hand has thirty seven stitches which makes me believe that you had a run in with a mirror in the house of mirrors. However the left side of your head has received a blow that has left you with a hairline fracture to your skull and a serious concussion plus your hip has also received a hit that almost dislocated it. You are not in serious trouble in fact they would have let you go if you were not exhausted from a night of throwing up. You just need rest and to take it easy for the next couple of weeks." he finished and waited a moment to see if Eliot would say something when he reminded stubbornly silent he went on.

"Eliot!" he said with a bit more force than necessary, "what the hell happened in that carnival?"

After a moment of waiting Eliot answered him in an uncharacteristically small voice. "I might have made contact with a moving ride."

"Did you lose consciousness?" asked Nate already knowing the answer.

"It must have been for less than three minutes," he said. Nate cursed himself for not noticing. There was a moment during the con that Eliot hadn't answered. They were used to Eliot not answering when he was concentrating on the bad guys and he didn't want to give up his position but thinking back he hadn't answered Molly's pleas either. That should have clued Nate in that something was wrong, he made a promise to himself that from now on he would be more careful about the hitter.

There were many things that he and Eliot didn't talk about. Nate had thought that if he was injured that he would let them - at least Nate know about it. He decided to voice this one out loud since Eliot hadn't seemed to have gotten the memo.

"I need to know if you are hurt on a job and need medical assistance afterwards," he said in a gentle tone of voice.

After a moment of silence Eliot opened his eyes and turned his head to look at his direction, "why?" he voiced and before Nate could answer he went on, "you have never cared before, why would it matter now?"

Suddenly Nate was speechless, when had he indicated that he did not care? Nowadays they were more than a team, they were a family however his silence seemed to be enough of an answer for Eliot who closed his eyes and carefully laid his head back down.

Nate thought about what was said and not said and suddenly he had a flash to the incident after the Juarez job.

_"I __just __don't __get __why __we __can't __have __a __couple __of __days __off __between __jobs __that's __all," __said __an __irritated __Eliot __as __he __moved __over __to __the __briefing __table __with __a __bag __of __ice __for __his __shoulder._

"How hurt were you?" inquired Nate, "after the job in Juarez?" something he hadn't asked then and should have.

Eliot opened his eyes and after throwing him a glance answered, "I had dislocated my shoulder and had a hairline fracture in my left wrist and a twisted knee," replied Eliot looking straight at Nate.

"You should have..." started Nate but was cut of by an angry Eliot.

"should have what? asked for recovery time?" he said and some of his anger seemed to drain out however he was still bitter when he went on, "I believe I had however I was denied."

Nate hesitated and then took the plunge, "I thought we had an understanding, you would tell me if you cannot function," he stated.

"I can function and we do have an understanding, I protect you and get hurt and you never know about it," he stated and went on, "I will never jeopardize any of my team because I will always be able to do my job," he said and from his tone of voice Nate knew that this wasn't a recent problem, by some misunderstanding this was how they did things. Eliot protected them using his body and they went on without noticing the price he paid.

Lately Alec had been very vocal about the entire team taking in what he did for granted. Claiming they had no idea what he did for the team however Nate was aware that he put in a lot if time for their jobs. Despite all his protests Nate knew that he enjoyed what he did. Unless Eliot was someone who took pleasure in pain he knew that Eliot's job was less pleasant than the rest of their jobs.

He knew that no matter what he said right now the boundaries had been drawn a long time ago and he would not be able to break them with words. He needed actions. From now on he would have be more observant of the teams hitter and would watch for the sign of injuries and plan in the needed time for recovery. The time given for Eliot would also benefit Hardison and his wrap up work. And that time Nate could use it to reassure Hardison that he was appreciated.

He smiled to himself, this way Eliot would get the deserved rest time without the obvious. He turned to look at his second in command. And yes Eliot was his second even if no one mentioned it. While it looked like it was Sophie it was always Eliot who questioned and pushed Nate as a second in command was ought to do. And because of that also received the blunt of his anger as well. He took both his anger and his carelessness without a word, Nate vowed to himself that that would change.

Eliot was looking at him through guarded eyes trying to determine what the master mind was thinking about. Nate knew that given enough time Eliot would figure it out, it was time to throw him of the trail. He gave a soft smile at him and said, "why don't you try to get some more sleep. The doctor said you could go home after the IV was done and even though I have called the others and told them you were fine I know they are at your place."

He smiled seeing the look on Eliot's face. "Parker was talking about the need for soup and she found your vegetable patch on the roof, Hardison mentioned something about an entertainment center and I believe Sophie was talking about a kitten." he would have laughed out loud at the look of horror on Eliot's face if he himself wasn't so worried about the man.

Yes, they had a new understanding - an understanding that Nate had to be more careful of those he cared deeply about. After all he had lost one son, he was not going to lose another one because of his own stupidity.

He reached for a fresh pack of jell ice that was left beside the bed side and reached over and placed it on the side of Eliot's face, the fact that the man let him gave him assurance that Eliot was't thrown of the trail as much as he would have liked and as Eliot closed his eyes and as his breathing eventually got deeper as the drugs that were still in his system took affect Nate knew they had at least for the moment had come to a common understanding.

XXXXX

_I wrote this the week the carnival job aired but couldn't get the last 6 paragraphs out, the rest had gotten written over night. I am still not really happy with the end but I thought I'll at least finish it and post it. I might take it down at one point to fix it._

_This ones for bprice who wanted something written I believe in August sorry it took so long! _

_Keep safe everyone._


End file.
